Friday series

Mozart and Arvo Pärt

Program

Soloist and conductor

Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson

Soloists

Nicola Lolli violin
Sigurgeir Agnarsson cello

Although Mozart and Arvo Pärt belong to two different periods, they have much in common artistically. Their music is pure and uplifting, often with a simple surface overlaying inner complexity. Für Alina for piano was a watershed in Pärt's career, in which he found his own voice after a hiatus of many years. Spiegel im Spiegel is one of Pärt's best-known works and the Mozart-Adagio is his piano trio arrangement of a gorgeous movement from one of Mozart's piano sonatas.

Mozart's piano works in c minor, written in 1785-1786, is unusually dark and tempestuous – even a sort of harbinger of the type of expression frequently associated with Beethoven. In the c minor concerto, Mozart explores the depths of the soul in a different way than he had previously done. Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson does double-duty as soloist and conductor, leading the orchestra from the piano, as was done in Mozart's day.